Anderson University Offers Three New Dance Majors

By Stefanie Leiter

ANDERSON, IN - The School of Music at Anderson University (Anderson, IN) will begin offering three majors in dance: Dance Performance, Dance Business (with tracks in business administration and non-profit business), and a complementary major in dance (to be combined with a second major.)

Dance classes started at AU in 2001 and in 2005 the dance program opened a studio, located in the Kardatzke Wellness Center. A minor in dance performance has been offered since 2006.

“Over these past few years, the amount of student interest and enthusiasm has been overwhelming, and student participation has exceeded our expectations,” said Dr. Jeffrey Wright, Dean for College of the Arts. “We now have 18 students who are declared minors in dance. Creating these dance majors seemed the logical way to capture the momentum of dance on our campus and move it to the next level.”

Over a period of several months, dance faculty, music school faculty, and business school faculty, along with the help of some external consultants in dance education, developed the curricula for these three majors.

The university’s new state-of-the-art dance studio, equipped with a L’Air sprung floor, barres, mirrors, and theatrical sound and lighting equipment, is the ideal facility in which to learn and practice the art of dance.

Dance technique courses include four levels of ballet, modern, jazz and tap as well as musical theatre dance forms and world dance forms. Theoretical courses include dance history survey, period dance, and dance improvisation and composition.

Partnering with the Falls School of Business, the 51 hour Dance Business major includes dance technique and dance theory classes, in addition to marketing, management, and accounting classes. Within the Dance Business major, students will have the option of two tracks: non-profit business and business administration. Students must also complete an internship before graduation.

“Dance has been overlooked by many colleges as a viable major, but there is now a national trend of including dance majors in the arts curricula on the college campus,” said Wright. “I believe it is important to give students the opportunity to study dance within the context of a liberal arts, church-related university such as AU. Many students are looking for this opportunity, and there are very few schools that are offering it.”

Source: Anderson University